My boyfriend and I were joining a group tour of southern Vietnam and Cambodia, but wanted to spend a few days in norther Vietnam prior to the group tour. After some initial research of various tour operators in Hanoi, I contacted Asia Pioneer to arrange airport transfers, a one day tour of Hanoi, and a 2 day/1 night Halong Bay trip. My initial email to IP was answered very quickly by Kata, who would be my main contact. She was extremely helpful throughout the entire planning process and any questions, etc were addressed very quickly. I work for for a tour operator here in the U.S. dealing with clients and their travel plans, so set high standards for customer support and IP was outstanding in this respect. For the Hanoi Tour, we were able to tailor the sights to suit our particular interests, and the guide they arranged for us was excellent. I also loved the included lunch at KOTO, a restaurant that takes in street youth and trains them for positions in the hospitality industry. Halong Bay was absolutely wonderful and one of my favorite parts of our entire journey throughout SEAsia. Kata sent me several options for Halong Bay and we decided on the Indochina Junk cruise, which I would highly recommend. I even had the chance to meet Kata after our return from Halong Bay (hello Kata!). A true professional; she is a great asset to IP.

We hope to return to Vietnam in a few years, specifically to see Sapa, Hoi An, and spend more time in Halong Bay, and would definitely use IP again. We had a very limited amount of time in Vietnam, so thank you IP and Kata for helping us make the most of it!